Starting last week from Monday to Wednesday were some of, if not the best days of my whole mission!! I went up to the Eugene Area and I stayed with other spanish missionaries for a few days before my new companion got to the mission. I was with Elders Adams and Strech who have been my favorite companions and another missionary that is fun was there too. Romping around as the 4 of us for a couple days was so rad. We worked and did a few things together and it was just flipping sweet!!! Just all of us being together was a party and we went and did service at a park one day and I went tracting with Elder Strech, a little throwback to when I was a younger lad.

On Thursday, my new companion Elder Peters arrived to the mission and they took us back to Medford! He is from Bountiful. It feels so weird to have a brand new missionary be with me.

We have a couple really good investigators that are in part member families that are the children and they are super receptive and fun to teach. We are hoping the Dad of one of them can come back to church (who actually got baptized like my 4th day in the mission field and now we are working with them again) so he can baptize her daughter.

I. Could. Not. Believe it.

Transfer time! I. Could. Not. Believe it. So Friday night President Russell calls us for transfers and he says "Elder Blake, I am going to send you back home. But not back to your literal home, I am sending you back to your first area in Central Point and Medford to follow-up train." I never thought I would go back!!! So I will be in the same apartment as before in Medford and working in the same branch. I was fist pumping and yelling like a little girl for a bit once I found out. I will be with an Elder named Elder Palomeque, he is a native Mexican and knows Spanish! He also knows English because he grew up in New York. He has only been out six weeks and so follow up training means I will be with him for his second transfer in the field for the next six weeks, I probably won't be in the same place for long is my guess so we will see. He will whip me into Spanish shape.

I just completed my first transfer out of the MTC in the mission field. Getting to Oregon from Mexico City was kind of crazy because we had a cancelled flight and had to get picked up from a different airport after flying to Oregon, but here is starting to feel like home. The weather hasn't been too wet because I am in Medford, south from all the tons of rain up north. The Spanish and finding Hispanics is an adventure and is sometimes really challenging but there are people you find that turn out to be golden!

Right now we have four people on date to be baptized! They are pretty great, they are all part of one family. The date isn't until April 11 because the mom is having surgery, but we might have it sooner. The Hispanics are usually quite nice even when they don't want to hear our message, we even get invited in to have unplanned meals sometimes! We go to specific areas stop hunt down our Hispanics to teach, and luckily the weather is usually pretty good. Sometimes it gets cold but you can't complain when it is 50s or even 60s during winter!

Teaching lessons and listening to the Spanish in its intensity from our Hispanics can be the most challenging thing, especially when you want so badly to be a bigger part of the lesson and you can't be. But with time, study, and prayers I have faith that in the future it will get easier.

I appreciate everyone for their support and everything! I will update again soon!

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